Siphons, chutes and flumes,

How water gets from the Continental Divide to Denver

oh my!

Ever wonder how water gets from the mountains to your faucet?

Let’s take a tour of the north system.

Our journey begins at the Continental Divide and ends in Lakewood.Gravity does most of the work – no pumping needed.

Starting elevation: 9,239 feet

Moffat Treatment Plant : 5,637 feet

The Moffat Water Tunnel sits on the Continental Divide.

Opened in 1936 as part of the railroad system, the pipe transports water from the Fraser and Williams Fork collection systems near Winter Park and across the divide.

The distance from the west to the east portals of the tunnel is 6.2 miles.

The west portal, shown here, sits in Winter Park.

The tunnel parallels the train tracks that cross the divide to the east and exits near Rollinsville.

We direct water coming out of the Moffat Tunnel through an open channel that sends the water into South Boulder Creek.

From there, nature does all the work, sending water about 13 miles through Rollinsville and Pinecliffe, ending up at Gross Reservoir.

Imagine you are on a ride at Water World, and after rushing down twists and turns, you end up in a small pool. …

Of course, Gross Reservoir, one of the many water storage facilities in our system, is no splash pool.

Completed in 1954, the dam and reservoir are named for Dwight D. Gross, who served as Denver Water’s chief engineer from 1926 to 1951.Current reservoir capacity is 41,811 acre-feet, or 13.6 billion gallons!

Water passes through Gross Dam and back into the river, which meanders down toward Eldorado Canyon.

From here, moving water to the city gets a little tricky.

Recreation in the Gross Reservoir area includes:• Fishing• Hiking• Canoeing/kayaking• Camping

At the South Boulder Creek diversion dam, we direct some of the water into a series of pipes, flumes and open channels.

We have to move water up and over the foothills and across valleys to get to Ralston Reservoir.

Flume: [floom]An artificial channel for conducting water.A flume can be used to provide momentum to move water along flat surfaces.

So how do you get water to go uphill?

A siphon, of course!

With a little help from gravity, a siphon helps pull the water up and over mountainous terrain.

This system uses six siphons to get over the foothills and through the woods.

After moving out of the foothills and away from the challenges of vertical transport, we use open concrete channels to direct the water toward our next location.

Flumes provide some momentum to help keep the water moving.

Any good water ride ends with a big splashdown, and this one sure looks fun!

This 120-foot chute dumps the water into Ralston Reservoir, which has a capacity of 10,776 acre-feet, or 3.5 billion gallons.

You can see the chute at the north end of the reservoir.

Ralston Reservoir helps us control the amount of water we move down to our treatment plant. Our crews keep a close eye on how much water moves in and out of this reservoir.

When constructed, the dam was one of the 10 highest earth-fill dams in the country. It was completed in 1937.

Water flows out of Ralston Reservoir through two pipes to Moffat Treatment Plant in Lakewood.

The traveling distance is 45,097 feet or just over 8 miles.

The pipes are 3.5 and 4.5 feet in diameter.

The Moffat Treatment Plant , built in 1937, is where all of the magic happens.

We filter out any yucky stuff and treat the water to remove any bacteria and other pathogens until it is sparkling clean and safe to drink.During the Great Depression, the construction of the entire north collection system employed more than 1,200 men.

We celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2012.

Clean drinking water leaves the treatment plant and travels through a network of pipes — nearly 3,000 miles! —across the city and into your homes and businesses.

Enjoy!